The School of Barke
by Tonzura123
Summary: Merlin's powers are on the fritz, which means it's not a fantastic time for Arthur to have an open mind. Prequel to "Emrys Emergent". Rated for violence, peril, and character death. Bromance abounds. Whump!Merlin. In-progress.


**The School of Barke**

**by Tonzura123**

**Disclaimer: I'll fight you for it...? *raises two limp-wristed fists***

_**A/N: This baby is a tie-in for "Emrys Emergent", but you don't have to be an EE buff to know these characters. AU for reason that will become obvious in this first part...**_

* * *

"Fetch me those phials, would you Merlin?" Gaius asked me, as he fiddled with the fire beneath the mad mix of bottles and tubes and bubbling green liquid. As I stood up from the desk and went to fetch them, Gaius said, "You know, you don't have to do that any more."

I stopped, hand resting on the box of phials, and turned to look at him. His dear face was all snowy white hair and withered cheeks. "Do what?" I wondered.

And there was that eyebrow.

"_Fetch," _he said. "Magic is legal now; I'd thought you'd be eager to use it for every occasion."

"I just don't feel like using it right now," I hedged.

"I fear I'll never understand how your mind works."

"Consider yourself lucky." I brought him the box, setting them within his reach as I sat in a rickety chair beside his workbench, propping my chin on my folded arms. "What are you working on?"

"Just a tonic."

"For Arthur?"

"Yes."

"Oh." I scratched at the hair tickling the back of my neck; it was getting a little out-of-hand. Arthur was starting to tug at it when he wanted my attention. "Need help?"

"In the long run, yes. You're going to make sure he drinks it."

I made a face at the smell. "Urgh. And how am I supposed to convince him to do that?"

Gaius stirred the mix with a tiny golden spoon until it was nice and runny, then set the spoon down and held the bowl before his chest like an offering to some invisible god. A few muttered words and a flash of gold beneath the wrinkled eyelids and the bowl started to cheerfully smoke.

Amazingly, it smelled worse than before.

"He's not going to drink that," I warned Gaius. "He's going to take one sniff and toss it out the window like the last one."

Unperturbed, Gaius corked the tonic and tossed it carelessly to me.

Despite myself, my hands flew out with the intention to catch it, then halfway up from the table top, my wrists seemed to turn of their own accord. A heat built behind my eyes and suddenly-

"Ah."

The phial turned lazily, caught midair inside a rippling ball of blue light. I lowered my hand quickly. The phial continued to float. I grit my teeth and flashed my hand over the air, forcing the magic to release the tonic. Almost grudgingly, the ball of light vanished and the phial clattered onto the table. My hands shook and I could feel a light sweat down the middle of my back. I laid my head back on my arms, burying my face.

Eventually, Gaius spoke.

"Merlin..."

"I know what you're going to say," I croaked into my arms. "I haven't lost control of it. It's just- Stronger, for some reason. It's like it's taken on a mind of its own." I raised my head high enough to meet Gaius' eyes. "I didn't want to worry you."

Gaius eased himself onto the bench across from me. "When did this begin? How did it start?"

I thought for a moment. "Not too long ago. Maybe a week? The night after Arthur made the speech I was trying to use it to straighten the armory. Old habit. Things sort of went... sideways."

"Explain."

"The warmth was there, when you feel the magic draw up from your toes. But it wasn't just drawing up, it was pushing out. Pressurized. I should have cut the spell then and there, but I think I was surprised. It came out of me like a _punch _and suddenly the whole room was full of these weapons and armor pieces flying around, dancing, and banging around the walls.

"Then I panicked and yelled, 'Stop!' and everything sort of froze and tumbled to the ground." I scratched the back my arm, where a flying sword had nicked me. "It was a mess to clean up by hand, but I did it in under an hour."

"Merlin, this is serious. If you cannot control your magic-"

"-Then I can't protect Arthur," I finished, dread circling in my stomach.

Gaius' eyebrow rose. "I was going to say you might be able to protect _yourself_."

I frowned at him. "I can protect myself without magic."

"Can you?" Gaius asked, in a slightly patronizing tone.

"_Yes_," I insisted. "I can swing a sword and everything."

He looked dubious. "Take Arthur his tonic," Gaius said. "I'll look into this. And for heaven's sake, whatever you do, _do not use magic_."

**OooooooooO**

Arthur was dismissing the nobles from the throne room when I slipped in the door. Gwaine and Elyan and Leon nodded and patted my shoulders, but they were the friendlier type of gentry. To the rest, while I was no longer an invisible servant. Instead, I had become an offensive splash of red across the pastel macramé of their lives.

After all, not everyone thinks a manservant deserves to become the King's Royal Advisor.

"Merlin!" Arthur called. "Just the man I wanted to see."

He was little changed from the removal of the magic ban. The same face and attitude and meat-based appetite, though maybe one could notice the disappearance of his premature worry lines. The explosion of magic users who were both loyal to the crown and living smack in the middle of Camelot had surprised him. But he was Arthur, and he had met them graciously and, within a day, he had won their hearts. Magic was on his side, now, and they tended to keep an eye on their own. We hadn't had a magician try to take over the kingdom, exact revenge, and or destroy Camelot in nearly two months.

"Gaius sent me with a tonic," I said, and tossed him the phial.

He uncorked it, sniffed, and promptly gagged. "What- Did he stuff some troll in this?"

"Extra-special: just for you."

Gingerly, he lay the phial on the arm of his throne and rose. "Sometimes I wonder if Gaius is going senile." He smiled. "Sometime I wonder if I'm am."

"You're doing a wonderful job, Arthur."

A weight seemed to settle on him as he said it, and I saw a glimpse of Camelot's hills and forests draped there, like a mantle with a thousand and one lives dangling. He grimaced.

"There was a riot this morning," he said, "in one of the Western towns. Thirty killed. No one is sure whether it was sorcerers using magic against their oppressors because it was legalized, or perfectly normal men killing whoever they thought was magic."

"Things will settle," I said. "Cement. It'll take time." But I was thinking _What If It Doesn't? _and I could tell it was written all over my face, because Arthur looked and me and in a second he looked like he was thinking the same thing.

And I imagined what the future would be like and wished I could see- Heat built in response to the thought, drawing from my feet and burning its way up, but I swallowed it and shuddered. I thought of the Crystal Cave and my old visions of death and torment. I really didn't want any more future-sight. I really didn't want to know when things cleared, if they cleared, or how. I was weary of knowing.

Arthur was talking again. I tuned in just in time to hear him say, "..thought I'd ride out to Barke."

"What?" I asked, stunned. "Barke? What for?"

He looked momentarily sour. "I make you Royal Advisor and you still daydream while I'm talking. To _learn magic_, Merlin."

"Who?" I demanded.

"_Me_, you idiot. _I_ should learn some magic."

I fumbled at the air, found a councilman's chair and quickly sat in it. Arthur watched me, vaguely amused.

"I- You- Magic is a _serious_ study, Arthur," I managed. "Even Gaius says it takes years of training to do the simplest spells."

"Good thing I've always been a quick student," Arthur said.

"You have to read a _lot_ of books."

"I read enough tax forms and treaties to fill twenty books a day."

"Arthur," I said, "what will you do, if you don't _have _magic?"

He squinted at me. "I shall study until I do."

"It doesn't work like that." I felt frustrated- frightened. I was thinking _he __**would **__choose today, of all days, to decide something like this_. "Most magic-users are _born _with their power, Arthur. It isn't something they're taught."

"But that means a few _are _taught," Arthur pointed out. Seeing my face, he added, "Merlin, I have to try. At the very least, I'll learn something about magic. I'll be able to see that kingdom the way _all_ my people do."

I swallowed. Nodded. It was the wisest course. Part of me warmed to know that Arthur had decided it on his own, without any prodding. And that same, warm part whispered _he'll do very well when we're gone._

My feet were hot. I stood.

"Drink your tonic," I said. "We'll start out for Barke tomorrow."

**OooooooooO**

Felix, my new manservant, was insistent.

"I'm going with you," he said. "It's my job."

"Well, I'm giving you time off," I replied, tossing things into a bag. Odd and ends. Reading material. Who knew how long we'd be there, after all.

Felix was unimpressed. Fourteen years of age, with curling blonde hair and hazel eyes, he reminded me of a miniature Arthur Pendragon at my beck and call. "Part of the pact for my life and not-banishment is to serve you for five years. It didn't mention holidays."

"Surprise." I wiggled my fingers. Then my feet grew hot again and I stopped. Felix stared.

"Are you getting sick again?" he wondered.

"No."

"You look a little green."

"That's my oriental pigmentation."

We both paused. I bit my tongue- Where on earth had that come from?

He asked, "What am I supposed to do while you're gone? Scrub the sparkling floor? Dust the immaculate bookcases?"

"At the very least," I recovered, "You can study your Latin."

He scowled. "You know, no one else in Camelot makes their _servant _study. That's scholar work."

"Whoever decided that no one needs to learn because other people are already learning," I retorted, "deserves to be fried by a dragon."

I could see the mental image struck a note with him when he grinned a blood-lusty grin.

"Cor, that'd be amazing," he said happily.

"It's not nearly as wonderful as you think," I sniffed and dug under an old satchel of herbs. Something bristly poked my fingers and I drew it out- it was a stuffed hedgehog.

I put it in my bag. Just in case.

"And anyway," I added, brushing seashells and a salt shaker off of a bookcase and on top of the hog, "You'd have to go to great lengths to get a Dragon even remotely _interested_ in frying a human being. They have a delicate sense of smell and are put off by the scent of carbonized homo sapiens."

"Why?" asked Felix. "'I thought dragons loved that sort of thing. Milo told me there was a dragon attack here, a few years ago."

I eyeballed a toothbrush with a red hair in it and passed it up for a lint roller. "That was different. He was pent up for a couple of decades by a tyrannical warlord who consequently made him the last of his kind. I'd go on a rampage, too."

"How do you _know _all of this?"

Snapping my bag shut and turning to the door, I reached out to pat him on the head. "I read it in a book."

**OooooooooO**

The road to Barke is more of a cliff edge and that cliff edge barely spans three feet from the rock face in the thickest of places.

Arthur and I decided to leave the horses untied, so that they could wander back to Camelot with a note, explaining that we weren't kidnapped or lying dead in a ditch. Yet.

With any luck, whatever stable hand found the note would tell Gaius. Ever since I'd confessed about my recent magic issues, he'd been asking questions all day yesterday, reading in his thick books, and mixing potions while shooting me curious, dissecting looks.

I hadn't told him about Barke. I couldn't bear the fretting.

Arthur walked ahead of me, feeling with his foot before putting down his full weight. He hugged the cliff face, shirt flapping wildly in the updraft. At his side, Excalibur hung like a counter-weight, keeping him steady on the slope. I wondered if the sheath's magic considered _plummeting from impossible heights_ a kind of battle injury.

"Step lightly, Merlin," he cautioned. "It's not all stable."

"You know," I said, looking everywhere but down, "that statement could probably expand in a metaphorical sense to encapsulate this entire endeavor."

"_English_, Merlin. As if that language doesn't give you enough trouble."

"This plan is stupid," I returned. "Shall we go back?"

"No, we shall not," Arthur replied cheerfully.

I shot a look over at him. He was looking at the shrinking path. His right foot hung off of the side of the ledge. Only his heels were keeping him in place. And beyond, far below, was an upside-down drop of nothing but gravity. I slumped a little dizzily against the cliff.

"I hate you!" I called. I was facing the broad of Camelot. My voice echoed out into the hills and made me giddy.

"Don't you start that," Arthur shouted. "I swear, if you pick _now_ of all times to turn into a damsel-"

"I hate you!" I shouted again. The clouds in the sky were overcast and caught the words. I had to yell to hear myself think:

"I hate your stupid mannish face. Your head is too big for your body and when you smile, you look like a cat. I hate shining your stupid, heavy armor and the fact that I nearly warped by lumbar vertebrae trying to hoist it around half of Camelot like a donkey! And I hate the way you cut your sausages. You use a spoon! And not just a spoon- the _gravy_ spoon! Honestly! As if it's too much work to set the blazing spoon back in the tureen so that you can pick up a fork and a knife like _normal_ person! What's wrong with a knife? It's like a miniature sword! Surely that's enough for you, Oh High King of Camelot and All Other Adjoining Countries! But _no-_It's suddenly economical to use a miniature shovel. With the way you eat, I'm actually not surprised..."

I think I yammered on like this for a while. Arthur was surprisingly silent on his end of the conversation, and it wasn't until I'd worked myself up enough to discuss how much I had hated doing his laundry after Bar Night with the Knights, that he grabbed me by my shoulders and spun me around to face him.

"_Merlin!" _He shook me. His stupid cat smile was sitting on his stupid face. "You can shut up, now."

I shut up and blinked. Around me was nothing but a wide plain of earth and grass.

"What happened to the cliff?" I asked stupidly.

"We climbed off it a while back," Arthur said. "I thought I'd let you carry on because it seemed to make you feel better. Does my new soap really smell like flowery bacon?"

"Yes," I replied senselessly. Then, "Wait- really?"

Arthur nodded. His stupid cat-face was back. "_Well_," he said mysteriously.

"Well what?" I snapped.

"Well, now I know the perfect truth serum for you," Arthur said. "I just have to dangle you off of something high-up and ask politely."

"You're joking."

"Merlin," he said solemnly, "I know _exactly_ what you did last summer."

With a friendly pat, he released me and walked on. It took me a second to run after him. "You do _not!"_

_"_Do too!"

"There is no way I'd tell you that!"

"Merlin, I now know things about you that even your _mother_ has never heard."

"You liar!"

"You are secretly in love with the inventor of the bread knife. You hid your mother's left shoe in the side of a riverbank when you were seven because you were convinced she couldn't leave home without it. _And_," Arthur added, clearly enjoying the look on my face, "even though I am allegedly the 'stupidest moron on the planet' you are jealous of the fact that I have four-poster bed."

I struggled to remember revealing anything of the sort.

"Well?" Arthur prodded.

"We're here," I said.

"What?"

Instead of replying, I pointed silently behind him. A massive house had appeared out of nowhere, it's sides were made out of perfectly symmetrical panels of wood that had been painted a garish sort of blue. Red shutters were nailed to either side of the bizarrely clear windows. At the small, white gate of the house, a post sat with a rounded box atop it that read, "The Johnsons, #54 Abandoned Field".

Arthur was aghast.

"What the _he_-"

"-_Hello!" _cried a man from the front door. He was as large and garish as the house, with cropped brown hair and a golden bracelet of shifting bands that ticked vaguely. Also, he wore a strange pair of trousers that were made out of a rough blue cloth, and a red shirt that was from one that was impossibly fine. On his large chest was the Pendragon sigil, of a Dragon rampart, made with a bright gold thread. The stitching was impeccable: I immediately suspected magic.

"Hello!" I returned, shouldering past Arthur, who was still staring in disgust and wonder. The big man took my hand and pumped it before reaching for my King, who actually backed up a step and continued to gape.

"Sorry about him," I said, glancing back to the florescent house. "He's a little, um, photosensitive."

"Am not," said Arthur distantly.

The man nodded. "Makes sense, makes sense. I guess you're both here to see the Master of Barke, right?"

"_Is _this the School of Barke?" I wondered, looking at the post box.

"Oh, that? Forget that," the man said, waving his hand. With a _pop_ the post box vanished in a puff of smoke. With another wave, a white sign sprouted up from the begonias that read _The School of Barke, est. 2001 A.D. _"It always changes into something inconspicuous when non-magic users are nearby," he explained.

"Oh," I said.

We three looked at one another.

"Welp!" cried the big man suddenly, clapping his hands and making Arthur flinch. "Introductions, then! I'm Kenny. I work here as an intern to the Master." Kenny looked expectantly at us.

"I'm Ar-"

"He's Anthony," I cut in suddenly, treading on his foot. "And I'm Marvin. We're from Lot's Kingdom."

"Nice, nice," said Kenny briskly. "Big magic-users, then?"

"We're _very_ interested in the art of magic," Arthur said. "But we haven't had much chance for using it, per se."

"I see, I see. Welp, we get plenty of newbies here. But I thought the two of you would be pretty versatile in magic, seeing as you're from King Arthur's time."

"Say again?" said Arthur.

"Well, magic is pretty prolific from this era, right? I even wore this t-shirt to make you feel at home!" Kenny pointed at his thick chest to show off the Pendragon crest, the yellow stitches glittering in the sunlight. "I would love to meet King Arthur!"

"Well, that makes sense," said Arthur, nodding sagely. "He is, after all, a fantastic swordsman. Humanitarian. All around notable knight."

"He's the best!" gushed Kenny. "Don't tell the Master, but he's like, my _idol_!"

I could practically _see _Arthur's head swelling.

"You're a wise man, Kenny," he said.

"I don't know, _Anthony_," I said innocently. "I always thought King Arthur was a complete _prat_."

"Well, his _advisor _is about as thick as they come, _Mar_vin."

Kenny squealed, like he was about to shrink into a waifish bar wench, but then a deep and terrible voice rolled from inside the house, like thunder and fire and ozone:

"**BRING THEM TO ME.**_**"**_

My magic trembled, my whole _person _trembled. I stood shaking and trying to stand still while Arthur rubbed at one ear with a free hand and Kenny sighed.

"Guess Master's done waiting," the big man said. He smiled at us. "Come on in, you guys."

**OooooooooO**

Kenny led us up the wooden steps and into the house. To the left of us was a staircase that led up to a second and third floor, to the right was a room with glass doors and wall-to-wall bookshelves. Ahead was a hallway that led into the deep of the house. To where the Master was.

Just the thought made me faint, but I steadied myself and kept my eyes on Arthur's broad shoulders as I trailed behind.

The place was well lit, but it didn't seem as though the light could fully touch the place, as though it was in a different place entirely from the lamps and candles that lined the walls. Pictures rested between each light; some tapestries like from home, others made from strange liquids, or from smooth paper, some could have been little windows, the people were so real.

There was one picture in particular that made me want to faint: it was of myself.

Arthur didn't notice it, but it was hard for me to ignore. I was wearing the same kind of clothing as Kenny, with a soft looking hat pulled down over my hair, which poked out in dark spikes along the fringe of my face. In the picture, I was sitting on stone steps next to a stone lion, a book in hand. Before I could inspect it further, the hallway ended, and Kenny stopped us at a pair of closed doors.

"All right, guys," Kenny said. "Watch what you say. Be completely honest, or the Master will blow you into little bits. Don't be smart alecks. Don't raise your voice. Don't ask for chewing gum. If you pass the first test, you will be permitted to stay the night and begin your lessons tomorrow."

Kenny paused to catch breath. "Any questions?"

"Chewing gum?" wondered Arthur. I found myself at a similar loss.

"_First _test?"

"Don't ask," Kenny said, then beamed. "Have fun, you two!"

And he opened the doors.

We were sucked inside. The pull was forceful and calamitous. I was flying forwards, off of my feet, careening into a room with a large fire and a tall pine tree covered in beads and glass-works and thick couches made from a fine leather. Arthur landed, sprawled, beside me.

"Ow. Where are we?"

"A library?"

There were certainly enough books for it- the room was massive. The ceiling went up and up and out of sight of the fireplace, books stretched upwards into oblivion. If it weren't for the oppressive sensation of magic pushing on me from all angles, I might have drooled.

"**WELCOME, STUDENTS OF BARKE. SURRENDER TO ME YOUR NAMES."**

**"**Anth-"

"-Before we give you our names," I interrupted quickly, "tell us yours."

There was the ocean again, and the electricity and the dew. It was overwhelming. It was _laughing_.

"**NAMES ARE POWER," **it rumbled. "**BUT I AM POWER."**

"Then you're a Name," I said. "And I am a Servant. And this," I nodded at Arthur, "Is a Friend."

"**SERVANT, ARE YOU?"**

It felt as though Name was crushing me, like it was leaning all at once down on me, putting all of its power through me and into me. I could barely breathe, and staggered. My magic was writhing inside of me, welling up, spilling out-

And suddenly gone. It was as though Name never was.

Taking the respite, I gasped on the ground and looked up at Arthur wearily. "Still think you need to learn magic, _Friend_?"

"This isn't magic," Arthur argued, growing angry. He scanned the room, then knelt at my side, putting a large hand on my shoulder. He muttered petulantly, "This is wordplay! This is _childish_! What have names got to do with anything?"

"_Everything_," I said. "Names _are _magic, you prat!"

I tried to stand with Arthur's help, but my legs gave up and I ended up landing on my hands. Someone grabbed at my shoulder, but the room tipped dangerously into a screaming grey, that became a silent, still black...

Arthur's face appeared over me. His mouth was moving quickly, like he was speaking but no sound came out. Behind him, the clouds were shifting in circles, and just watching them made me want to go back to sleep, but someone grabbed at my shoulder and began shaking me. Words began filtering into my ears like they were approaching from a distance.

"..._merlin_...Merlin...MERLIN!"

"What?" I asked him blearily. "Did I miss court again?"

Kenny's face appeared next to his, "Finally! How ya' feeling, little guy?"

I grunted.

Something pulled at my arm, and I looked down to find a tube sticking out of my skin. Connected to it was a glass contraption about the size of a book that was pumping with a small pair of bellows. Inside the glass, something yellow and something blue were swimming around one another like vapor.

"What's that?" I mumbled. "'s nice."

A hand slapped on my cheek and brought my face forwards again until I was looking at Arthur Pendragon's round blue eyes. "Look here, Merlin. Keep your eyes here."

"'kay," I said agreeably. "Why?"

"You reached critical, man," Kenny said, pumping the little machine somewhere on my right. "Like, supernova. I've only read about that kind of thing in case studies, you know? It was awesome. Also bad," he added quickly, as Arthur shot him a dark look. "Really, totally bad."

I brought up a hand and rubbed it gingerly across my chest. It felt like something was sitting there, and it hurt.

"Are you experiencing heart pains?" Kenny asked sharply.

Arthur took my hand away from my heart and squeezed it while Kenny did something with tubes and wires and machine. There was a lot of _hmm_ing and _huh_ing from the big man, and with every passing second, Arthur seemed to hold onto me tighter.

"Arthur?" I blinked heavily, grimacing. "What happened?"

"Well, we get to stay the night. Apparently we passed whatever clever-clogs test that was."

I think I smiled. The grass under me was soft, and Arthur's hand was warm, and the sky was big and blue and growing with every second. And I think maybe Arthur's mouth was moving again, but the silence was growing louder than his voice, and soon I was asleep in it.

**OooooooooO**

_I dreamed I was in a thick green field with a golden dragon. This dragon was kind but fierce, and circled warily away from me whenever I approached it. _

_"I'm your master," I told it._

_"You are my servant," it said, in tones of deep ichor. "I am your master."_

_I reached for it, but it growled. A thunderous tremble that I could feel throughout my blood._

_"You need to work with me!" I said. "We're a team, you and I."_

_Arthur's face appeared beyond it's scaly shoulders. He had saddled the beast, and was riding it like a horse, unaware of the smoke streaming from its flared nostrils._

_"This isn't so hard, Marvin," he laughed. "I can't believe you can't do it."_

_"Arthur, be careful!"_

_The dragon snapped, rearing and rolling like a crocodile. Arthur fell from the saddle, stunned but unafraid. He brushed himself off and marched towards it, sword at the ready._

_Then the golden dragon inhaled._

_And expelled a fire like wind upon us both._

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**A/N #2: Hello again! This is just to say "thanks" to everyone who read this first chapter!**

**Things will be cleared up about that GIANT DISEMBODIED VOICE soon, but if you absolutely-positively need to know NOW, just let me know via PM or review and I'll clear things up stat.**

**Please have a wonderful week. You gorgeous human being, you.**

**As Always,**

**-Tonzura123**


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